ten minutes ago.

Chi Lei rubbed a piece of tissue paper, wrapped some dried lotus leaves, and twisted it into a cone-shaped roll. He lit it on fire and took a deep breath. This thing is not as good as tobacco, but it can relieve the addiction of the mouth now that the materials are scarce.

The scanner temporarily set up in front of them did not respond. If Lao Zhang was within a five-kilometer radius of them, he would be able to detect a little. But the flickering scan screen was blank.

He puffed out a sharp puff of smoke.

"Brother Chi." Ding Zepeng followed, bowing his head. "Do you want me to help adjust the antenna?"

"No, I'll call you when I need help, now look at the tent." Chi Lei stared at the screen without turning his head.

"231 went in." Ding Zepeng said immediately.

"What do you think of this newcomer?" Chi Lei didn't answer, and started a different topic.

"Didn't 231 say he's a waiter? Brother Ruan is a little nervous. I guess he hasn't gotten used to it yet. Everything else is normal."

Chi Lei sneered and took another puff of smoke: "It's intuitive. That kid is not simple. He doesn't look at the gun like an ordinary person... Does he have bad legs?"

"Yes, but it's not a big problem. You can move freely after a while. According to the diagnosis of 231, it's just a little troublesome in the head - Brother Ruan seems to be a little stimulated, has a little memory loss, and the infection on his neck can't see light."

"No news of Lao Zhang over there?"

"I said that I didn't find it, and I saw the survivors that Lao Zhang was going to meet. 231 won't lie to us. Brother Chi, he also took the medicine. Brother Ruan is definitely not from the city. He doesn't have any weapons on his body... "

"I don't like his face." Chi Lei interrupted simply, "You are still young when the world is over, so it's normal for you not to understand. Cafe waiter? That face doesn't look like that. The eldest young master who has passed the gene has to cause a lot of trouble. Just having Guan Haiming in the base is enough."

Ding Zepeng stopped talking. Every time he mentioned the world before its destruction, he couldn't keep up.

Seeing that Ding Zepeng was silent, Chi Lei smiled wearily, put his roll in his mouth, and patted the back of the young man's head. "It's okay to have two hearts, it doesn't hurt."

Then the two were silent for a while, just staring at the blank scanning screen.

"Brother Chi, do you think Brother Zhang will..."

"Say a few words, no one will treat you as dumb."

"Brother Chi!"

"I didn't let you—fuck!" Seeing the shadow of black feet in the corner of his eyes, Chi Lei quickly reacted and pushed Ding Zepeng away. The sharp steps cut through Chi Lei's back, and blood poured out all at once.

"It's a cockroach, run!" Chi Lei growled.

The two ignored the machine they had set up on the spot and ran down the mountain. As a result, they didn't run two steps, and another cockroach was lying in front of them. It stretched out its sickle-shaped hooks, flung its fat and soft abdomen, and blocked the most convenient way to escape.

Chi Lei started with two shots. The skin of the cockroach on the abdomen is thick, and it is meaningless to hit the abdomen, the eyes and joints are the key points. It's a pity that the injury on the back was a hindrance - the cockroach could not move, and he missed a shot.

Blood began to drip on the ground.

Ding Zepeng swallowed. He hurriedly put on the laser stick, took a few steps, and blocked Chi Lei's injured back with his back, the tip of the stick was sharper than the other approaching from behind them.

"Two." Chi Lei hissed and gasped, "Damn, how did they get here?"

"Brother Chi, patrol time in the city..."

"I know. 231 should be coming over. When he stabilizes the situation, let's escape together... Xiao Ding, don't think about attacking, this is not something that people can deal with!"

Ding Zepeng sighed and changed the position of the stick.

A hundred meters away, on the other side of the blocked road. Tang Yibu suddenly stopped.

"how?"

"That's the belly-traveling cockroach." Tang Yibu looked at the monster and introduced it cordially like a kindergarten teacher. "You've already killed one."

"...Thank you for explaining." Ruan Xian said numbly.

"I have to deal with it with a gun."

"Yeah." Ruan Xian replied, raising his eyebrows. As far as Tang Yibu's skill in the ruins is concerned, it doesn't look like the type that needs a gun at all.

"Thank you for your understanding." Tang Yibu released his hands.

Ruan Xian, who had been hugged horizontally, smashed to the ground, feeling a little dazed for a moment. Mr. Ruan slowly sat up, rubbed his aching back, and looked at Tang Yibu in shock.

Tang Yibu moved neatly, his two hands were already equipped with gun-like weapons. Seemingly misunderstanding Ruan Xian's eyes, he smacked his lips, threw one of the guns to Ruan Xian, and then gave a thumbs up.

On his deadpan face there was a bright smile that was a little fake, full of routine.

"Don't worry, this distance is within my protection range. You'll be fine."

"..." Ruan Xian's facial muscles twitched.

Tang Yibu stepped onto the boulder beside the mountain road in a sprint, and with his feet on the abdomen of the cockroach, he turned to the side of the battlefield beautifully. The two belly cockroaches in front of them were much larger than the one in the ruins, with their abdomens nearly two meters high, making it difficult for Ruan Xian, who was sitting on the ground, to see the situation on the other side.

Ruan Xian let out a light breath and carefully looked at the gun in his hand. While quickly speculating on how to use it, he tried to distinguish the various sounds in the battle.

Now things are obvious. Tang Yibu has a very human body, but from the way he speaks, he obviously doesn't think he is a human being. Based on the existing information, he is 80% related to the androids that Ding Zepeng said to be wary of.

Research on androids has continued, but progress has been slow. Humans have been trying to create androids a hundred years ago, but even until the time before their own death, the technical aspects were far from being completed - there is not much work that necessarily requires a human form. The police will have large mechanical police dogs for auxiliary use, the army will have intelligent chariots, and even housekeeping robots are only the size of a trash can.

In contrast, lifelike human appearances are too expensive and not as marketable as people think.

The development of virtual reality is more and more complete, and the development of independent AI is the fastest choice for money. Abandoning the detour of "making hardware closer to people", only a virtual image and appropriate intracranial stimulation can be used to meet most of the needs of the public.

In order to ensure stable investment, Ruan Xian himself has a dedicated AI project team. Unfortunately, before the project was completed, he was shot in the head.

So far, from an attitude point of view, Tang Yibu must have regarded himself as the same kind. The secrets that need to be kept in the cooperation agreement should also be related to Tang Yibu's real situation.

If Tang Yibu needs someone of the same kind, it is better to "disguise temporarily" than to "face the possibility of being silenced".

Ruan Xian activated the firearm and stared at the battlefield 100 meters away.

An abdominal cockroach can be dragged by an implosion bomb, but it cannot be used again when surrounded by two. The abdominal cockroach blocking the road occasionally moved, revealing the situation in the battlefield - Ding Zepeng waved the laser stick familiarly, and had already cut off a few legs of one of them. Brother Chi was injured and was shooting with a gun. For a while, he could not see which side had the advantage.

Ruan Xian raised the muzzle, his eyes fixed on the action of the cockroach.

Indiscriminate attacks would only irritate them, he had to seize the moment - the success of the ruined hall was purely fate, if there were just a few crumbling steel plates on the ceiling, Ruan Xian didn't think he could handle this kind of thing in front of him.

After a burst of gunshots, a harsh whine penetrated Ruan Xian's eardrum, and one of the bloated abdomens stopped moving. The movement of the other one also gradually slowed down. Tang Yibu held a gun in one hand and supported Brother Chi with the other arm, who was a little arrogant in his footsteps, jumped over the monster's stomach again, and ran towards Ruan Xian. Xiao Ding Yi jumped up like a gourd and followed Tang Yibu——

The worm's belly was already soft, and after a fight, it was wrapped in a lot of mucus. Ding Zepeng staggered and fell directly from the belly of the two-meter-high worm.

Tang Yibu stopped immediately, and turned his head to shoot a few more shots. The worm seemed to be dizzy with anger, waving its feet, and had no inclination to escape. Its thick abdomen suddenly collapsed, and three scorpion tail-like things emerged from the end of the bulging abdomen and stabbed Ding Zepeng.

"It's a tail thorn, this thing wants to die with us!" Brother Chi shouted in a hoarse voice, "231, use a bomb!"

"It's already blind." Tang Yibu's voice was steady and he continued to shoot. "The explosion will attract detection birds, which is not the best solution."

"The patrol time of the horizontal and vertical detection birds is coming, it will be fine if you hide in time!" Seeing Ding Zepeng struggling to stand up, his face was pale, and he was dragging his legs to escape. Brother Chi's voice became a bit sharp. "Little Ding! Brat, come here!"

The monster was already covered in gunshot wounds, and it bit down a few steps behind Ding Zepeng. The broken black feet swung like scythes, and the mucus-stained tail hooks jabbed frantically. Ding Zepeng pursed his lips and looked here, but instead of approaching, he began to lead it away.

"Where are you going? Get back!" Brother Chi roared, watching the monster out of his range. "231, bomb, this is an order!"

"I can only carry two people properly. Now the three of you are all in a state of inconvenience. When the explosion attracts the detection bird, one person is destined to escape the reconnaissance. It takes five minutes to kill the cockroach, and the patrol takes five minutes and forty seconds. Afterwards, there are forty seconds to spare, and theoretically all of them can survive... If Ding Zepeng dies unfortunately, I will take you to cover immediately."

"...You use the bomb first, then take those two boys away, and I'll give you my authorization." Brother Chi shook off Tang Yibu's arm and sat on the ground gasping for breath. "You can't take risks with Xiao Ding, they are still young, and I should die if they want to die."

"No." Tang Yibu kept moving, "I have to choose the plan with the highest collective survival rate, this is the rule."

His voice was calm.

"You—" Brother Chi was so angry that he almost passed out, and almost didn't hold the gun in his hand.

"Xiao Ding, come here!" Ruan Xian suddenly raised his voice, "231 has a solution—!"

When he heard that 231 had a solution, Ding Zepeng honestly changed his direction and limped here from a few hundred meters away.

"What are you doing?! I'll tell you..." Brother Chi was about to deflect his anger, but suddenly fell to the ground, as if he lost consciousness.

Tang Yibu glanced meaningfully at Ruan Xian.

"With too much blood loss, his physiological response won't lie. You're also waiting for him to faint, aren't you?" Ruan Xian sighed.

It's now.

The heart was beating like a drum, and the eardrums were filled with the sound of blood flowing. Ruan Xian gasped desperately, holding the gun with both hands. Time seemed to slow the flow, and the monster's movements were clear and slow.

Combining the upwind speed, weapon condition, and distance, he found that he could predict where the bullet was about to hit—it felt amazing, unusual but natural, like instinct, and the calculation process was almost negligible.

Like bending over to pick up a fallen leaf.

This feeling has appeared in the ruins before, but this time it was especially strong.

In Ding Zepeng's surprised eyes, Ruan Xian opened fire at the monster behind him. Outside the young man's field of vision, every bullet hit where Tang Yibu once hit.

The damage suddenly doubled, and the frantic cockroach stopped for a few seconds.

Tang Yibu took the opportunity to rush forward and knocked Ding Zepeng aside while firing - the latter did not get up after falling, and Ruan Xian was sure that he saw Tang Yibu put away something similar to a needleless syringe.

Tang Yibu dropped the gun.

"Strike the columnar structure under its mouthparts!" The patterned smile on his face disappeared, and Tang Yibu jumped up on the abdomen of the cockroach.

Ruan Xian did so without hesitation.

Being hit on a sensitive spot, the frantic cockroach instinctively curled up. This action causes its tail hook to retract and its abdomen to expand again. Tang Yibu directly hugged a tail hook and pulled it off neatly, bringing out a large string of sticky internal organs. Before the cockroach could react, he used the thick tail hook as a weapon and pinned the soft abdomen of the cockroach to the soil.

The whole process is rough and precise, like a predatory beast.

As Ruan Xian had seen before, the abdominal cockroach with a ruptured abdomen soon stopped moving.

Tang Yibu clapped his hands, put the gun on the ground back to his belt, and picked up Ding Zepeng. He easily returned to the same path and put the unconscious Ding Zepeng beside the unconscious brother Chi.

"What should I do now?" Ruan Xian asked in a calm tone, holding back his shock and tension. "It's less than a minute. I can't go yet. Can't you carry three people?"

"I will limit their coma to two hours." Tang Yibu spread his hands, "That's enough."

"According to your conversation just now, the detection bird..."

"Yes, that's them." Tang Yibu's annoying introductory tone appeared again, and he pointed to the flock of birds flying towards him.

Then simply made a gesture.

The birds turned slightly and flew away from the area. One bird flew out of the unusually neat flock, flapped its wings, and landed on Tang Yibu's index finger.

"Detecting the bird." Tang Yibu stretched out his hand slightly and showed it to Ruan Xian. "The city uses this to detect human traces."

The shape of the detection bird is a bit like a sparrow, with brown and gray feathers, and it has excellent concealment in the woods. Its head has no eyes or beak, only a camera-like structure in the middle, and its body is not much different from a real live bird.

Ruan Xian forcibly restrained the shiver and observed it as calmly as possible.

Tang Yibu sternly rubbed his fingertips against the bird's deformed head.

"Since it's used to detect human traces, what about Brother Chi and Xiao Ding?" Ruan Xian specifically excluded himself.

"They won't be found."

Tang Yibu withdrew his hand and let the probe bird fly back to the sky.

"...I rewrote the flock's probe log with administrative privileges."

Ruan Xian turned his face mechanically.

It must be hidden, he thought. There seemed to be another reason for being silenced by Tang Yibu after being exposed.